I recently got a little sick. Luckily it wasn't COVID because I had no fever and tested negative last week. It was more of sore throat, mucus in my nose, and cough.

In reality, I could have probably taken two or three days off the gym, rested up, ate, up, kept my protein high, and gotten back to the grind later that week

But between my still low self esteem and lack of understanding of my triggers, I WENT ON A 10 DAY UNHEALTHY BINGE.

No lifting, no cardio, all packaged foods. I'm talking hot and spicy noodle microwave bowls, cookies, chips, Taco Bell, basically all crap.

I recently got back to my healthy high protein, high carb diet and have gone back to the gym again, but doing so really woke me up to the costs of an unhealthy binge.

The costs of an 10 day unhealthy binge, a breakdown:

PHYSICAL COSTS (smaller cost but lasts longer)

  • 10 DAYS OF LOST REPS AND STRENGTH
    • 10 days worth of reps and strength you lose
    • 10 days of potential PR's and new max weights that you lose
    • 1000+ pounds of lifting volume that you lose
  • REGRESSION
    • with 10 days off, you will certainly be weaker in your lifts when you do go back to the gym
      • I've been tracking my lifts with a notebook and I missed PRs and/or went down in all my weights when I went back
  • GAIN OF THE WRONG KIND OF WEIGHT
    • Not only did I not lift, but I ate like crap.
    • I probably gained a good amount of fat in those 10 days due to a lack of physical activity.
    • Definitely looked thinner in the chest and arms and thicker in the belly

MENTAL COSTS (lasts less time, but is a bigger cost)

  • Guilt of not going to the gym
  • Feeling like a foreigner in a place that felt like home not too long ago
  • Seeing people you saw before, knowing for a fact that they have been there the whole time and you haven't
  • Getting out of the mental groove you get of going to the gym ad having a good satisfying workout

Getting over these mental costs takes only 2 or 3 days, but this is on top of the 10 days you already lost physically.

MORAL OF THE STORY:

Moral the of the story is: never skip days (unless it's your scheduled rest day, obviously).

You think it's easier to 'just not go today', but in reality, it's easier to go and have an okay workout.

Its harder to not workout and come back and deal with the physical and mental costs I outlined above